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If there's reason for caution with these Cowboys, critics consistently focus on one area of uncertainty: the lack of a post presence when OSU runs up against teams with bigger teams. Cobbins, of course, finds that offensive.

STILLWATER — Oklahoma State has gathered many believers in this basketball season, with a No. 8 national ranking and some analysts even projecting a run to the Final Four.

Oklahoma State forward Michael Cobbins cheers on the team in an exhibition against Emporia State. Oklahoma State went on to defeat Emporia State 87-41 at Gallagher Iba Arena in Stillwater on Nov. 1, 2013. Photo by KT King/For the Oklahoman

Yet if there's reason for caution with these Cowboys, critics consistently focus on one area of uncertainty: the lack of a post presence when OSU runs up against teams with bigger teams.

While hardly a prototypical center at 6-foot-8 and 230 pounds, Cobbins is an athletic leaper who impacts games in different ways. Just into his junior year, he already ranks eighth in OSU history for blocked shots, with 95. Cobbins averages 1.5 blocks per game — and that's without owning a full-time role until now — and has seven games of four or more blocks entering Friday night's game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.

Tip time is 7.

Quick off his feet, Cobbins can beat many big men to the boards, working around them or over them.

“We need him to be a physical presence around the rim,” said Cowboys coach Travis Ford. “We need him to rebound the ball, we need him to block shots and we need him to be a dominant five man for us.

“I think he will, and that's what I'm expecting.”

Cobbins said he understands the outside doubts, purely based on initial impressions.

But he also argues that there's more to him than may appear. He's bigger than ever, having added 50 solid pounds since arriving as a freshman. And he's healthy, something he was not at stages of last season, slowed early by a foot injury, then hampered late with a bum shoulder.

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